Commissioning of natural ventilation required more time, testing
different enthalpies to get the best
compromise between mechanical and natural ventilation. The
process ensured that the displacement ventilation was adjusted to the
occupants’ liking while maintaining
the vertical temperature gradient
within the setpoints calculated with
Standard 55-2004.

Cost Effectiveness

A comparative study on energy/cost
consumption was carried out after
one year of occupation. The study
compared pre-renovation (2008 – 09)

consumptions and post-renovation
consumptions (2013 – 14), accounting for outdoor temperatures. The
study found a cost increase of 36%

and energy increase of 41%. On
the natural gas portion, there was a
reduction of gas costs of 40% and gas
consumption of 53%. The result was
a total energy cost increase of 31%

and energy consumption of 22%, for
a building that is 68% bigger in size.

Figure 2 shows energy consumption for 2015. In 2014, the total
energy consumption was 4,508 m3 or

162 MBtu at a cost of $1,815.

The electrical consumption for
the same year was 901,951 kWh or

3,077 MBtu at a cost of $66,312.

The total energy consumption for
the building is 3,239 MBtu, which
equals 152 kBtu/ft2.

Even though part of the existing
building was conserved architecturally, those mechanical and electrical
components were part of the renovation. According to RS Means Square
Foot Costs 2014, the electrical and
mechanical costs for a library are

$70/ft2. The total existing build-ing square footage is 21,200, whichequals $1,484,000. The total projectspace that promotes tranquility andlight, an ideal setting for readingand learning.

Operation and Maintenance

The maintenance personnel have
local and remote access to a building
management system (BMS), which
integrates all electro-mechanical
equipment. Through the BMS, they
can fully optimize the balance
between environmental conditions,
energy consumption, and operational
needs. Furthermore, the alarm signals are sent to the operators via
emails and telephone messages, and
they include the level of urgency tied
with the action to be taken.

Start-up was carried out with ease,
even though it involved the integration of the existing building systems
into the new BMS. The heat pumps
were intensively commissioned to
optimize setpoints with respect to the
new conception.

The commissioning process notonly allowed for a smooth start-up ofthe new equipment, but also helpedthe O&M staff understand the impor-tance of continuous maintenancecost for mechanical and electricalwas $1.6 million, for an additionalcost of $116,000.

The energy model predicted an
energy cost savings of 57%, which
can be assumed for the existing
building as well as the new construction for a cost savings of $39,000.

This represents a return on investment of three years.

Environmental Impact

It is often said that the most ecological
building is the existing building. This
is yet another way in which the library
stands out. It was not transformed
through a demolition/construction
process, but rather by the addition of
a new LEED Gold extension, which is
harmoniously integrated to the existing heritage building. Furthermore,
this transformation allowed the

The engineers used equipment that was not
working to its full potential and enhanced
the system by adding geothermal wells and
connecting new heat pumps to the network
resulting in an extremely comfortable and
energy-efficient building.